Iranian Football! A problem of the masses and culture?

[Mazloumi]

Iranian Football? A problem of masses?

Watching Iranian football through the last 2.5 decades, from the eighties till now, one would assume that the tendency of players development were more on the technical side. The eyes of the crowed was most of the time looking for the best technique, dribbling, step overs etc...This developmnet was similiar to the development of South American football in the early sixties and seventies.

But why is the Iranian Football a more technical oriented one and not a physical one, like the German and English football?

Does the answer lies within the culture of the country?

Looking at Iranian culture and also its long history, one would always find or be willing to find a national hero! No matter on the political front, or in the poetry, or science. There were alwys individuals like Amir Kabir, or Ferdowsi, or Avecinna, or Hafez, or Gholamreza Takhti etc.... not a group of people but individuals, who gained respect among their fellow country mates because of their very special skills. THEIR LEADERSHIP! The country was always seeking to look for a leader in music, science, poetry and so on.......only few dared to take that role but the ones who did, did rather well.

Now coming back to Football. It is a sport of masses. Big stadiums, huge amount of fans and 11 not 1 players on the field. But still deep inside the fans and players, the seeking for leader remains. and since every footballer, plays to show off his abilities, his skills, and specially as Iranian culture demands his leadership abilities, one has to show all the INDIVIDUAL skill he has to differentiate himself from others!
If it would be Wrestling, Weighlifting, Taekwondo, the job would be easier! but if you play together with 10 other players on the field, you got to be special! The only way to show youself is being technically gifted to catch the eyes.

It does not mean, however, that technically gifted players are good leaders, but it catches the eyes of the masses....looking for someone special....a hero.

So where is the problem?

By the early nineties IFF was experiencing a quiet heavy time for Iranian football. Missing the WC 1994 qualification, losing to Asian teams etc.... it was around that time that the country was desperately seeking for a hero!
In the Asian games of 1996 Daei got the best scorer of the tournament, Azizi the player of the tournament, Bagheri the best midfielder! There the whole country started to praise and love the founded Heroes......................
And when you feel you are a hero and being loved by 70 million, you do not want to lose this opportunity! Even if you have to quit one day!

The problem is now when a new generation of fans comes in, they start seeking automatically for their heroes.....and may be in clash with the older generation. Simple example: DAEI lovers and DAEI haters...............
One argues that he was great but his time has gone.......
the others argue, you don't remember the Hero that saved our football when we were down......

Now one can look back and start this argument at an ever older genration clash: ALI PARVIN lovers, ALI PARVIN haters...........the same situation.

maybe one day we will have: ALI KARIMI lovers, ALI KARIMI haters.......

the point is the masses that watch football are making the heroes and taking them away or fighting each other!

Exactly when you look back at the Persian history where Kings were supported, hated, and were fought against by new Kings!

Do you see that in Wrestling?
Do you see that in Weightlifting? How about Taekwondoe?

No, but in team sports, where you have huge stadiums and lots of masses.....
and specially if you have a Hero-loving culture such as Iran's the battlefield is perfect.

Hope you understood my points and maybe some of you can relate it to your football world.

[nachi88]

good point there mazloumi. In 1954, 9 years after ww2, Germany was a destroyed and divided nation. People didnt have much to look forward to. They needed hero's, and the team sent to the world cup was an outsider for winning it. Infact, they lost a match 8-3 against the hungarians. They improved their performance later in the tournament, and there was a rematch with hungary in the finals. The Hungarians took a 2-0 lead, but we equalised that. And in the 80th minute we scored the third goal. That was the winner. The members of that squad were made instant heros of the nation. That time DFB didnt have the facilities, grounds, coaches, and it is rumoured some of the players didnt even have proper shoes. They wore the football shoes for the first time in the world cup. The nation got a sense of pride because of these, and had some one to look up to after a long time. There are roads, stadiums, theatres and evena forest named after the memebrs of that team. You can find out more about the team in a movie made on it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326429/
http://abauer.alfahosting.org/

[stuglue]

I find a similar attitude amongst the Italians and Spanish,when their team is winning they cheer and think their team is the best but as soon as they start to lose the "white"hankies come out.In England the attitude is slightly different.When the team is winning we cheer but when we are losing we cheer even harder as we know that it "fires" up the team.Booing is counter productive,save the criticism for after the match not during.

[nachi88]

I find a similar attitude amongst the Italians and Spanish,when their team is winning they cheer and think their team is the best but as soon as they start to lose the "white"hankies come out.In England the attitude is slightly different.When the team is winning we cheer but when we are losing we cheer even harder as we know that it "fires" up the team.Booing is counter productive,save the criticism for after the match not during.

good observation there. I agree.

But on english football writers, I find their atitude quite pessemistic about English NT. They are always critics and never appreciate anything. eg glanville, mathew monk etc.

[stuglue]

the tabloid newspapers are far worst.We are the greatest team or the worst,but these people who write for them are completely out of touch with fans anyway.Some of the articles are quite xenophobic(remember Euro 96 and their terrible coverage of England-Germany which they put a 2nd world war slant on things-"for you ze war is over"etc).Also their treatment of past England managers is disgusting,i.e Bobby Robson and especially Graham Taylor.

[Mazloumi]

Good comments guys!

The sad thing is most Iranians are hero worshipers. We seek that one individual with extraordinary (and unrealistic) powers and place the entire weight of our hopes on his shoulders. We create dream-like images of his future accomplishments in our minds and believe in them as if they are holy images of truth.

But ofcourse, the truth of the matter is that our hero is a human being, just like the rest of us. As a human being, our hero goes through patches of normalcy, where he plays more like the human he is and less like the mythical character that he is not (and is only the creations of our minds). This is when we realize that our images where not real and that the reality is much closer to earth. This is also when we separate into different reactions. Some us recognize the reality and accept it. Others feel betrayed by this image of the hero that they have created and want it destroyed, shreded into pieces. Their anger is so extreme, and their touch with reality is so remote that they bring this bitterness on the innocent player who was just doing his very humanly best.
So, what is the solution? I believe the solution lies in the evolution of this leadership concept. A leader should no longer be groomed as THE ONE who will take us to the promise land. Rather, the leader should be viewed as the one who will facilitate and enhance the environment and the conditions that will provide the maximum chance of the TEAM performing at its optimum level. There is a big diffetrence here and I hope that you ponder it for a while before you read on.
From what I can see so far, our present coach, Branko, is showing every sign that he is totally aware of this concept. This is why we do not see one player winning games, we see the whole team winning these games. We do not see players fighting the Rostam-like battles and single-handedly pushing the ball all the way through multiple defenders and placing it in the net (a feat that most have shown that they are well capable of performing) Instead, we see a calculated, controlled, and coordinated offence that has brough consistent results against a vareity of teams.
You see, Iran, like just about every country with a deep history, has a rich selection of heros in its past. But the problem with these heros is that they are dead and so is their mythical powers. We are left waiting/searching for the next hero. It is time for us to realize that there are no individual heroes and we should organize ourselves to create a system that will maximize our potentials and contributions, so that we can create the collective hero.

This reminds me that I should ask all to read the story/legend of Simorgh.

[stuglue]

Well generally i find that a lot of fans forget the players who do the "donkey"work.Remember Eric Cantona's comments on Didier Deschamps,he described him as "the water Carrier",but yet without him Cantona could'nt be the effective player that he was.What i'm trying to say is that without the hard working,tough tackling"battlers"their would not be the Zidane's of this world.Now look at Iran they have good midfielders like Karimi and Mahdavikia who the fans i'm sure worship,yet don't forget that their is probably some hard working midfielder for the NT who never gets the credit but is giving it his all.Those are the players who should be applauded because even though they may only be "support cast"their importance is overlooked.But try to think of it this way.EVERY POSITION IS IMPORTANT ON THE PITCH TO IGNORE DEFICIENCIES WILL ONLY LEAD TO DEFEAT.

[Toke-E-Yo]

just blame it on the government lol :lol: